If you’re familiar with digital marketing, you know that search engine optimization (SEO) is critical for driving traffic to your website and landing pages. 

Since Google is the number one search engine, it makes sense to optimize your site for its algorithm.

Unfortunately, Google is notoriously tight-lipped about how its algorithm works, but it does offer free tools to help you gather data and insights to make your site easier to find. 

Google Search Console is one of the most valuable tools available, and it can make your site easier to index, thus helping you rank higher for your target keywords.

If you’ve ever poked around the dashboard, it can feel a little overwhelming at first—there’s a barrage of tabs, graphs, and notifications begging for your attention. The trick is to focus on a few key pieces: checking performance reports, submitting sitemaps, and keeping an eye on those pesky error messages that pop up when Google has trouble crawling your site. I learned that one the hard way after watching one of my main landing pages go missing from search for weeks because of a broken link buried three clicks deep.

Small details matter here, more than you’d think. For instance, regularly reviewing how people are actually searching for your content (those quirky search queries you hadn’t even thought of) might show you there’s a demand for topics or keywords you’ve ignored. Sometimes, that means you need to ditch a pet project page that’s hogging resources but pulling in zero visitors—painful, but necessary.

With that in mind, let’s roll up our sleeves and discover everything that Google Search Console can do for your digital marketing efforts.